WSS: Yamaha Kyalami Sunday notes

Crutchlow maintains championship lead in South Africa
Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow had a tough race in Kyalami
today missing out on the race win after being held up by the pack at the
start of the race. The British rider initially...

Crutchlow maintains championship lead in South Africa

Yamaha World Supersport rider Cal Crutchlow had a tough race in Kyalami
today missing out on the race win after being held up by the pack at the
start of the race. The British rider initially dropped to sixth position
from the start, behind team-mate Fabien Foret. The pair stayed together,
following Sofuoglu until a mistake by the Honda rider on the 3rd lap
allowed Crutchlow past. He then passed his team-mate on the fifth lap,
before swiftly taking Lascorz and Pitt to move into second behind race
leader Laverty. By this point Laverty had extended a considerable lead,
and although Crutchlow worked hard to close the gap he had to settle for
a second place finish and another podium.

Team-mate Fabien Foret had a better start and lead Crutchlow for a while
before following him through to take up third place. He gradually built
up a good lead over fourth placed rider Lascorz but a momentary lapse of
concentration going into a corner too hot four laps from the end saw the
French rider lose the front end and crash out.

Crutchlow leaves South Africa still leading the championship on 119
points, 13 ahead of second placed Laverty. Foret is in eighth on 44
points.

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (2nd)

"It was a really tough race, the beginning was a proper dog fight. It
took me a long time to get through the pack and start working on breaking
down Laverty's lead. By the time I got clear in second he had a big gap
and I just couldn't keep it consistently quick enough to catch him. I
made a couple of small mistakes which cost me some time so had to settle
for the second spot on the podium. A big thank you to the Yamaha team
again for working so hard this weekend."

Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (DNF)

"I'm really disappointed with myself. It was a big fight at the beginning
of the race and I did well to get through. I had a really good race pace
and was feeling confident to keep pushing on. I had built up a good lead
in third but just lost a moment's concentration going into the corner and
went down on the front."

Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team

"We lost the fight for the race win two seconds into the first lap when
both riders got held up by the main pack, by the second lap Eugene was
too far away to challenge. Cal was looking like he was able to catch him
but he had to push hard and made one or too small mistakes. At the moment
the championship lead is very close and podiums are very important. It
was very disappointing not to have two podiums, Fabien had a good pace
and was as fast as Cal but was a bit too hot into the corner and crashed.
It was a shame as he had a good lead and didn't need to push so hard."